Greek Gemista

They weren’t kidding. We ordered a simple greek salad on our first evening in Athens and it was as good as they claimed it to be. Feta cheese, tomatoes and fresh lettuce drizzled with olive oil. How could it be different from what I’d otherwise toss together at home in Dubai, in India or in Timbuktoo? But it sure was different. Was it the freshness of the vegetables, dairy or olive oil? I couldn’t care. It was delicious like never before!Our culinary euphoria in Greece was, frankly, short-lived because after a week, it was challenging to find too many vegetarian options. By the time we got to Mykonos, we were eating ‘greek’ styled Italian food (same difference) and had got tired and fattened by feta.However, Athens helped us discover some wonderful little nooks and corners and the the most notable was ‘Η Κρήτη’, a little Cretan joint tucked away in a side street, something that you wouldn’t notice in passing unless you could read Greek. It had 5 small tables and we were lucky enough to find one available that the 5 of us could cramp into. So why did we choose this place? Foursquare. (I highly recommend that you save this link before visiting Athens because it is that good. The best meal in Greece and the best vegetarian-range-of-options in Europe that I’ve ever come across.After a lot of thinking, we ordered 2 meal combos – each with 5 dishes so 10 in all that would do justice to the group. The waiter enthusiastically offered to replace a couple of meat options with a vegetarian version promising us that it would be as good as the original. Apart from Η Κρήτη, we also devoured good food in a few other random places. Enough now. Allow the below images to speak for themselves.